Weekly Mail

TIDE TABLE. | I OH T*E WKEK. KSPIXG FRBHCAHY 24, 1SS2. j 'S 38 -J Z 5 o t! C W 3 Q, 4) DAYSO* TH*WKM. 1^1 s g § a5 2 | h £ •2 o S « § Morning 7 19 j 7 2 6 3 6 &7 8 9 § 1 SATTTOT ■< Evening 7 50 7 25 6 9, 7 23 8 32 f Height. I 35 0 37 o 33 6 t 38 1 jO 3 r vCorning 3 7 7 41 6 52 7 4o | 8 56 S"I"T Sf°Se i J si 'I I 33 'o 3I glj" { Morning | 8 53 8 31 37 8 31 9 38 MOXDAT.- Evsning 9 19 3 51 7 57 8 51 9 58 I Height. ^7 4 39 0 35 6 69 8 ^>2 TMorning 9 33 9 12 8 17 9 11 10 19 TUJHTOAT < Evening 9 59 9 32 8 38 9 32 10 39 ( Height 36 4 38 1 34 9 38 5 31 3^ i Moroivrg 10 12 I 9 51 8 59 j 9 53 10 58 Wbvxbt. J Evenin:* I 10 36 10 10 9 20 10 14 j 11 17 i Height .|34 4 |36 2' 33 1 36 3 |29 0 i Vlorrnne 110 50 10 29 9 40 10 34 11 36 THr*M»T-> Evening } 11 11 10 47 10 0 10 54 11 54 i Height I 61 4 33 4 30 11 33 4 1 25 8 i Mornin. VI 25 XI 6 10 £ 0 11 14 I — FRtPAT. Evening j 11 46 11 28 i 10 42 j 11 35 i 12 IS J.KIBAT. t M» 27 30 2 j28 5 t 30 1122 0

Pail SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1882. Apr-Eit a most exhaustive debate the Cardiff Town Council on Monday resolved, by an overirhelming majority, to petition Par- liament in favour of the Bill pro- moted by the Trustees of the Marquess of Ben for the construction of New Docks at that port. The ratepayers of the town are to be congratulated upon this result. For it is absolutely certain that had the adverse motion proposed by Mr. REES JONES been carried Lord BTTTR'S scheme of Dock Extension would have been incon- tinently abandoned. It needs no words of ours to demonstrate how great a calamity this would have been to the town and port. And how any coalowner or freighter can persuade himself that such a result could have proved an advantage to the trade with which he is con- nected passes mortal comprehension. We invite those of our readers who are in- terested in the welfare of Cardiff attentively to peruse the reports published this morning of the speeches delivered at Monday's Town Council. They cannot then fail to appreciate how lame and impotent was the conclusion at which the little knot of interested colliery owners and shippers inconsequentially arrived. Mr. WARING summed up the whole matter in a pithy sentence when he declared u that too much had been said of the interests tf the shipowners, and too little of t i interests of the ratepayers and of the larking men." It would doubtless be satis- fottory to rieh men like Mr. RP.E8 JONRS and Mr, RICHARD CORY, jun., that they should have the opportunity of becoming richer at the expense of Lord BUTE. But we venture to assure them that the responsibility resting on their heads would not be slight in their greed of per- sonal gain, they made the construction of New Dock3 impossible, and thus sacrificed the material interests of every ratepayer and working man in the borough. that maketh haate to be rich, shall n jt be inno- cent." In discussing this vry important question I it is essential that a coimnnr> basis of fact should be agreed to. It has been stated in these columns nuore than once that the I increased charges which Lord BUTE insists < upon aa a condition precedent to his pro- ceedirsg with the New Docks amount to a ■maximum of one penny per ton upon the shiTioen r.9 at the Roath Basin and the Xew Dock. At Monday's meeting Mr. | RICHARD CORY, jun., declared that the additional charge which the Trustees of the Marquess of BUTE sought powers to make world be about fourpence per ton. Now, the extra charges Lord BCTE demands are all specified in Clause 39 of the new Biil, and are as follow:— The undertakers may demand and take in respect of coal, coke, culm, iron ore, or other ore for the use of the sidings, and the lines of railway of the undertakers connect- ing the same with their storage and sorting H sidings such reasonable tolls, rates, and charges as they may from time to time order or direct, not exceeding one halfpenny per ton, and for the delivery and removal of such coal, coke, culm, iron ore, or other ore, and 11 any further services incidental thereto (where any of such services are performed by the undertakers), such further reason- able tolls, rates, and charges as they may "from time to time order or direct, "not exceeding one halfpenny per ton." It will be seen that this maximum aggregate charge of one penny is to be for services rendered either in the hauling of the coal or providing sidings for its accommodation- Doubtless coalowners prefer that Lord BUTE should be at the expense of providing ac- commodation for their waggons rather than that they should themselves have to increase their sidings at their collieries. But surely it is no part of the duty of the representatives of the ratepayers of Cardiff to aid these gentlemen in their attempt to make a hard bargain with the dock owner. The question of Lord BUTErS appropriation of the foreshore has also been referred to. Mr. Alderman JONES put this matter in a very clear light when he stated that whatever the I abstract rights of the Corporation might be they would be no losers by the transaction, for U Lord IkTE would make the foreshore valuable to the corporation as a rate-paying property, whereas it was now worthless." As a matter of fact, however, the Corporation of Cardiff have no more claim to the foreshore of the East Moors than they have to the fore- shore of the Land's End. Lord BUTE I claims it as the lord of the manor, and under charter from the Crown. Upon the only occasion that the Corporation asserted a right in the matter, and, by virtue thereof, removed Lord buoys, they were I promptly brought to book," and as the result of an action at law submitted to judgment, and paid Lord BrrRs costs for their pains. If Mr. THOMAS RRES is ignorant of this fact, he had no business to apeak as he did at the meeting of the Town Council. If he was aware of it, his statements were un- worthy of anyone having the slightest regard J for truth, and must have been made with the sole object of misleading the public, and inciting most unworthy and wicked prejudices. It is impossible to denounce in terms of too great severity conduct such as that of Mr. RRES. It is on a par with that of a cotemporary who thought it not undignified to publish an anonymous insinuation that Lord recent gift of £10,000 to the Welsh University was a bribe given to the people of Cardiff to secure their support for the preaent dock scheme. It is, perhaps, the noblest feature in Lord Bun's character that abuse and obloquy and misrepresentation have not altogether chilled his feelings of kindliness towards the people of) Cardiff. Men of smaller minds would j have seen in this latest attempt to distort a generous action abundant reason for declin- ing in future to be in any way associated with a town where such a libel would be admitted, unvouched by the writer's name, into the columns of a respectable journal professing j to represent the Liberal and Nonconformist section of the community.

DR. 1) AIJÙ1 report dealing with the health of the borough of Cardiff during the past month, which was presented to the Town Council on Monday, contains some remarks which deserve the serious attention of our local sanitary authorities. I regret to state," says Dr. PAIE, that I have since my last report visited cases of scarlatina, and found children from infected houses still attending school up to the period of my visit." This practice cannot be too severely depre- cated. It must eventually lead to the dis- semination of scarlatina, and thus pave the way for an outbreak of the diseaee in its more virulent form of scarlet fever. Only recently this epidemic, owing to the tardy efforts of the Merthyr officials, existed in that town to an alarming extent; and unless steps are immediately taken by the authorities of I Cardiff to put down a practice which Dr. PAINE declares to be fraught with imminent danger to the public health," it is to be feared a serious outbreak of scarlet fever may occur in the south-eastern portion of Glamorganshire. The propriety of closing all schools in Cardiff will, no doubt, be con- sidered. But we believe that a more effectual method for preventing the spreading of this disease would be to only prevent those children infected from attending school. This could be done with comparatively little trouble. The closing of schools allows large numbers of healthy children to play about in the streets either with those who have been suffering from the disease or with those who live in houses where scarlet fever has broken out. At present only a few cases exist in Cardiff. And prompt means should be taken by the authorities to prevent so virulent and dangerous a disease as scarlet fever becoming prevalent.

SOME startling statistics as to the value of compulsory vaocination were furnished by Dr. CARPENTRR in the course of his speech at the monthly conference of the London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination on Friday week. Dr. CARPENTER, who is one of the most eminent physiologists in the world, is fully alive to the many objec- tions to which compulsory vaccination is open, but he justly considers that the arguments against the present law are far outweighed by the immense service rendered to society at large by the inoculation of every child with lymph. And the most strenuous oppoaers of vaccination will find it difficult to furnish any reply to the overwhelming evidence adduced by DT.CARPRNTKB. In considering the history of 9nall-pox for the past two hundred years, ] he stated that fmin 16^0 to 167B the general' moi tality of the kingdorr wv-s 80,000 in every milion of Hying ''0. wd the small-pox mortalftj, vr. tt i- Im 1728-67 the general mortality low per million, and the j small-pox mortality 4,260 in 1771-80 the general mortality was 50,000, and the small- pox mortality 5,020. However, the average small-pox mortality in the period from 1660 to 1830 was about 4,000 per million." It is noticeable that at this period the disease periodically appeared in its worst form, and was the terror of all classes. Louis XV. died deserted by all except Madame Du BARRY, and the priests who chanted mass in the Chapelle Ardente over his body were said to have been" condemned" to do so. In 17o0 HORACE WALPOLE wrote, Lord DALKEITH is dead of the small-pox in three days.' Is it act a matter for congratulation that this great dread of small-pox has now' almost entirely disappeared ? For the decade 1801-1810," says Dr. CARPENTER, the general mortality was 20,000 per million, and the small-pox mortality 2,0-10. In 1831-3:) the general mortality was 32,000, and the small-pox mortality had fallen to 830. At that time he had himself seen as many as 100 cases of blindness from small-pox in unvac- cinated persons, and it was probable that in the last century two-thirds of the patients at the eye hospitals were blind from the same cause, while the proportion now was only o per cent." In 1840 the Legislature provided the means of vaccination, and the result was that the mortality fell to 400 per million." Then came compulsory vaccination in 1853, and the small-pox mortality in the decade 18-51-W iveq only 278 per million. In 1861-70 the number was 276. He now came to the years 1871-80, which period was unquestionably exceptional. The mortality in these years among unvaccinated persons was so extraordinarily great and the disease itself was so violent as to suggest the notion that it might be, indeed, the lilacit; Death of the Middle Ages. Yet, as far as he knew, no person who bore the evidences of vaccination had died of small-pox in the last year. In 1871 the disease was severe every- where in Great Britain, but especially in Scotland, where compulsory vaccination had not been then adopted. Since that time, however, vaccination had been made compul- sory in Scotland, where it was now enforced more effectually than in England, the result being that for the last five years there had not been 12 deaths a year in that country from small-pox." Many people, in spite of the strongest evi- dence to the contrary, look upon vacci- nation as an unreasonable and indefensible anomaly. But they find it impossible to refute the able arguments adduced by Dr. CARPENTER. It is certainly a lamentable thing that there should be found hundreds of persona in this age of enlightenment and universal knowledge so obstinate, illogical, and'fanatical as to wish to abolish the best and only guard the world has against a disastrous and loathsome disease. —

THE subject of the earlier closing of retail places of business is one which has been amply discussed, and there can be little doubt that employers as well as p employes would benefit by the limita- tion of the long hours of labour now in force. The truth of the well-known saying that all work and no play makes JACK a dull boy is generally admitted. And it must be confessed that at present assistants in shops have far too little time for both amusement and intel- lectual improvement. This is to be deplored, and it is to be hoped that meetings similar to that held in the Cardiff Town-hall on Wednes- day night will be the means of effecting some useful reforms in the existing state of things. Masters cannot afford to be indifferent as to the culture apd happiness of their servants, and the large number of local tradesmen present at the meeting of the Cardiff Early Closing Association shows that many employers are fnlly alive to this fact. The greater the intelligence of the servant the more efficiently will he be able to discharge hi3 duties. There can be no doubt that the present hours of business are unnecessarily long. If all shops were closed at seven or eight o'clock in the evening, customers would soon acquire the habit of making their purchases during the day or at a reasonably early time. This would enable the young men and women who had been confined for many hours in rooms often atrociously ventilated to obtain some exercise in the fresh air in order to clear their heads either for reading or more serious study. It is well known that the students who attend the Bristol College at night are chiefly clerks and shop assistants. The same is the case as regards the Birkbeck Institution in London; and there is every reason to suppose that the closing of shops at a more reasonable hour throughout South Wales would be attended with equally favourable results. The Rev. C. J. THOMPSON stated on Wednesday j that it was proposed to establish in Cardiff a club which would provide the many shop assistants in the town with a comfortable place where they could assemble for social 1 intercourse, amusement, and intellectual improvement. The idea is an excellent one, and we trust that the scheme will not be allowed to drop. Local employers of labour will be all the more likely to look with favour upon any proposals that may be made to them for shutting their places of business at a more reasonable hour from the fact that the President of the Cardiff Early Closing Association emphatically stated that the meeting had not been called with a view of setting on foot an agitation, but for the purpose of laying before the public in a cahn and logical manner the wants and requirements of a large section of the community.

IT seems inconceivable that Mr. GLADSTONE can really have intended, as his more fero- cious enemies maintain that he did, to revive the Home Rule agitation by his speech last week, on Mr. P. J. SMYTH'S amendment to the Address, and to play his last card as a politician by offering the Irish Party the bribe of the separation of Ireland from the British Empire as- the price of their support at the General Election if he is de- feated on the Cloture and has to appeal to the country. Such a course would be so shame- ful that we prefer to believe iVlr. GLADSTONE only spoke carelessly, and without having fully considered how serious would be the effect of his words when he invited the Home Rulers to bring their proposals within the range of practical politics by explaining clearly their plan for restoring to Ireland her legislative independence. The grave mistake made by the PRIME MINISTER is probably due to his intellectual pride. He is so con- vinced of the facility with which he could demolish any programme the Home Rulers might bring forward that he fancied he was laying a trap for them by suggesting that they should submit a detailed plan of separa- tion for discussion in the House of Commons. Recent events have probably disturbed the balance of his judgment, or he would have re- flected that the wisest thing he could do in the present state of Irish affairs was to hold his tongue about the ideas of the Nationalist, lest he might increase and in- tensify the troubles which have already, as was painfully apparent from the tone of Mr. FoRsrEu,s speech the same evening, well nigh broken the heart of his most devoted colleague. But Mr. GLADSTONE seems to be incapable of remembering that a responsible jwtatesman must sometimes regard it af the truest eloquence to be silent. It is only when he is called upon by the voice of public opinion to denounce some fresh act of I Russian aggression or brutality that he picks his words and shows no want of that discretion which on other occa- sions so conspicuously fails him. But at the present moment Mr. GLADSTONE must be in such an irritable frame of mind that it is hardly wonderful if he commits one blunder after another. His defeat in the BRADLAUGH division was a great blow to him; but the reception his Procedure Rules have met with on both sides of the House must havo stung him beyond endurance.

LIBERAL leaders in Westminster shrank last week from contesting the aeat rendered vacant by the retirement of Sir CHARLES RUSSELL. The only construction that can be put upon this action is that the Radicals have lost the firm footing they formerly possessed in this important constituency, and that they prefer showing the white feather to having a Liberal candidate defeated by an overwhelming majority. Indeed, so disheartened are Radicals in general by the result of recent by-elec- tions, that it is by no means probable that a suitable candidate could have been got to stand in opposition to Lord ALGERNON PERCY. Mr. JOHX MORLKY, who was defeated at the last General Election, resolutely declined to ven- ture upon another contest. Nor could the Westminster Liberal Union induce Mr. JAMES BEAT, to come to. its rescue. That gentleman showed even a greater amount of timidity than Mr. MORLEY, absolutely refusing even to consider the idea of being slaughtered." It is evident that! he could not see why he should immolate himself upon the altar of political partisan- ship, The divided state of the Liberal, party in the constituency," Mr. BRAT, declared, pre- vented him from thinking of opposing the return of Lord PERCY. Having been on- cn.r.1; + K r> i *• a.f.lI.an" (39Vrtll T«a in auuuraaiui 111 IUCU owtnuwuo 'I.V-I. u 'v induce Nfr. MopLFy and Mr. BEAL to stand the Westminster Liberal Union found that it had exhausted the resources of civilisation" and retired from the field ingloriously. This re- minds us of that mighty King of FRANCE who with twenty thousand men went up the hill and then came down again The impor- tance of the victory gained by the Conserva- tives by the unopposed return of Lord PERCY on Tuesday week for thia hitherto hotly contested Metropolitan constituency cannot be over estimated.

IT is an old saying that corporations have neither souls to be saved nor bodies to be kicked. Apparently the Rev. Mr. OLIVER, of Newport, thinks they are devoid of sen- sibilities to be hurt or reputations to be injured. How else is it possible to account for the tremendous onslaught which he made on Friday week upon the intellectual and moral status of the people of Cardiff? According to his account that prosperous and rising town-the Metropolis of South Wales, as it not unjustly styles itself- is in a condition which can only be described as past praying for It would, indeed, have been bad enough if Mr. OLIVER had contented himself with denoun- cing Cardiff. But he has added insult to injury. On the principle that comparisons are odious, be has inflicted the keenest wound possible upon the self love of ita inhabitants by instituting an invidious comparison between the town on the Taff and the sister town upon the Tawe. Swansea," he said, was unquestionably superior to Cardiff in its traditional history and intellectual status." Mr. OLIVER'S qua- lifications for forming this remarkable opinion are not very clear. It is possible that some of the inhabitants of the former town may retort upon him the indignant inquiry of the bellicose Hebrew, who, resenting the interference of MOSES, exclaimed, Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us ?" But it is not only the traditional history and '-in tellectiial status" of Cardiff which are deficient. Physically and morally, according to this new DANIEL come to Judgment, Car- diff is in an exceedingly bad way. So effete is the town that" it will be worked out in less than thirty years." Nay, in that very brief state of time it will become a heap of ruins." Surely, Mr. OLIVER is qualifying for the post of prophet in ordinary left vacant by the death of Dr. CUMMINGS. Or possibly, like MACAU LAY'S New Zealander, he expects him- self to stand upon a broken arch of the Canton Bridge, shedding maudlin tears over the ruins of a departed city. Some sceptical people will, no doubt, pooh-pooh the Newport preacher's claims to infallibility upon so material a question as the immediate future of Cardiff. But, surely fpw will be rash enough to question his right to pronounce an opinion ex cathedra upon doctrines and morals. So, when Mr. OLIVER, this Newport Pope in miniature, tells us that the moral atmosphere of Cardiff is unhealthy, we begin to think that there is something alarming in the condition of the town. It will, perhaps, be well not to examine too closely the grounds upon which Mr. OLIVER bases this damnifying assertion. It may be perfectly true, as the rev. gentleman declares, that they could hardly call Cardiff an Eng- lish or a Welsh town." It may be equally true that" it is an ominum gatherum of all nations- Italians, Poles, and no one knows who-a place where the people are nearly all foreigners and yet it does not follow that the place isthe sink of ignorance and immorality which this charitable minister of the Gospel declares it to be. But even ifitwereall that he saysand worse —if it were a very Sodom and Gomorrab- one would have thought that so orthodox a divine as Mr. OLIVER would have been able to find Scriptural authority for sparing it from that doom of extinction in thirty years which he has pronounced against it. One greater than Mr. OLIVER said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous then I will spare all the place for their sakes." He even went further: "I will not destroy it," He said," for ten's sake." Surely, if Mr. OLIVER had looked for a re- deeming feature in Cardiff, he might have found it. We will not say that earnest search would have discovered ten righteous in the score of churches connected with the Establishment, or the half-dozen chapels in which the Roman Catholic religion is practised. Nor is it to be supposed that Mr. OLLIVER would find one righteous in the two foreign churches that are maintained in that town. But surely among the fifty Dissenting places of worship one or other of which is to be found in every district of the borough, this worthy representative of Nonconformity might have found some reason for mitigating the harsh and uncharitable judgment to which he gave utterance last week. We most certainly decline to fol- low him: in his malicious attempt to create strife, between the people of Swansea and Cardiff. The former town possesses indisputable claims to be ac- cepted as the seat of the new Welsh University. But so also in our opinion does the latter. And the man who cannot recognise them stands confessed as a blind leader of the blind", not only unfit for the sacred office which he fills, and for the important position he holds upon the Newport School Board, but also for the post of the meanest pupil teaoher in the educational establishments which have the misfortune to be subjected to his control. If a boy in the fifth standard of any Dublio AUmentary school in this country made such a blnnder in political geography as Mr. OLIVER committed he would, in a well-regulated establish- ment, be soundly birched, and sent back to learn his lesson over again. ♦ THE public will learn with satisfaction that the Government have under consideration a Bill for the establishment of a Parcels Post in this country. The idea is an old one, and considering the immense convenience of such a post, it is a matter for wonder that the pro- posal made by Sir ROWLAND HILL some forty years ago has not before been carried out. From the statement which Mr. FAWCETT made in the House on Monday night it appears that the Government have encountered the same difficulty as that against which the famous introducer of the penny post unsuccessfully contended. The ill-judged 11 opposition of the railway companies," to quote one of Sir ROWLAND HILI:S favourite phrases, has not yet subsided. During the last session," said the POSTMASTER-GENERAL, Ii I had hoped that arrangements might have been adopted which would have enabled a Parcels Post to be almost immediately estab- lished. During the recess the subject was again carefully considered by the Post-office, and I hope, in the course of a week or two, to submit to the Treasury certain proposals which may form the basis of fresh negotia- tions with the Railway Companies. If an arrangement is arrived at with these companies, it will be necessary to introduce a Bill to give it effect." This persistent U opposition" of the railway companies is much to be regretted. There should really be no more difficulty in arranging for the carriage of small parcels than there is at present for the carriage of Her MAJESTY'S mails. The entire question is of such importance to the country that it is to be hoped the Government and the hostile companies will be able to agree at an early date upon a uniform tariff for the delivery of light goods to all parts of the United Kingdom. At present the obstacles in the way .of transmitting a small parcel are of so serious a character that tradesmen as well as private persons are put to the greatest inconvenience. Under the proposed Parcels Post system it would be possible to forward a packet of not more than six pounds weight to any address with the same ease and certainty as an ordinary letter. The railway companies are playing the part of dog in the manger. They will neither afford facilities for the carriage of small parcels nor allow the Government to do so. The fact that an efficient system of Parcels Post is worked moat suecessfuliy on the Continent proves that the carrying of packets at an exceedingly low rate is not incompatible with the interests of the railway companies, and that the opposition shown to the Government scheme arises out of a spirit ot pure jealousy. We trust, however, that the various com- panies will see the short-sightedness of persis- ting in such a hostile policy, and that the difficulties at present existing between them and the Government will speedily be settled to the satisfaction of both parties, and in the manner most likely to meet the wants of the public. ♦ ———

THE nation has recently been assured by Mr. GLADSTONE and other prominent mem- bers of the Ministry that the condition of Ireland is steadily improving; that outrages are less numerous now than they were twelve months ago, and that the Land Act is slowlv, but steadily, working a vast and beneficial reform in the Sister Isle. All signs of disaf- fection, we have been told, are disappearing, and peace and security are being speedily restored. The Ministry must have an unbounded belief in the credulity of the nation to think it will swallow these fictitious statements. We only judge the Government out of its own mouth. A Parliamentary paper has been issued which shows that almost every kind of crime is more prevalent than at the beginning of last year. The total number of outrages for the month of January, 1881, was seven hundred and forty-seven, of which four hun- dred and forty-eight were of an agrarian character. During the same period of the present year eight hundred and eleven out- rages were committed, four hundred and seventy-nine of -which were of an agrarian nature. Thirty-one more agrarian outrages were perpetrated during the first month of 1882 than during January, 1881, and three hundred and sixty-five more than during January, 1880. Itw'^ scarcely be contended that these figures prove that crime is rapidly decreasing in Ireland. Three murders were committed last month, whilst during January, 1881, not one instance of bloodshed occurred. Eight persons were fired at in January against only two in January. 1881 thirty cases of incendiary fires and arson are recorded against twenty- two last year f twenty-one cases of firing into dwellings against eighteen; and nine cases of maiming cattle against four. Facts are stronger than fiction. Which will the public believe—the vague optimistical statements of Ministers or the facts setlorth in the Parlia- mentary paper before us, which every person can examine for himself ? In his speech in the House of Lords on Tuesday week Earl GRANVILLE asserted that in December last the a, outrages were far fewer than they were in December, 1880. This is true; but from the official 'document before us it appears that, excepting the month of December, 1880, the number of agrarian outrages in Ireland during the last four months of 1881 was much greater than during any other period for the last two years. Earl GRANVILLE'S reply to the Marquess of SALISBURY was no doubt ingenious, and affords excellent evidence that figures, skilfully manipulated, may be made to prove anything. We cannot help thinking, how- ever, that the Liberal leader in the House of Lords should have been above availing him- self of such equivocal means of endeavouring to refute the stinging and well-founded asser- tions of his opponents. The nation will not fail to appreciate the full significance of this pitiable shufflmg-of. these desperate oratorical attempt9 to wriggle out of the difficulties into which the Ministry has been plunged by its own blunders and short- sightedness.

SW ANSEA HARBOUR TRUST. .-> The account of revenue and expenditure for the month of January last has just been issued. The revenue on the general harbour estate was £ 4,138 10s. 5d., as compared with £ 4,21* 5s. 7d. in the cor- responding month of 1881; while the expenditure was £3.460 6s. 2d., 5 against £ 3,312 *63. 2d., which gives a surplus of æ678 4s. 3d., as against igol [198. 5d. The income from the South Dock waR.C888 5s. lid., and the expenditure was £ 1,53010s. 2d., the deficit being 4642 4s. 3d. In January, 1881, the revenue from this dock was LI,021 17s. lid., the expenditure, g945 13s., and thg surplus, £ 78 4s. lid. It should be stated that the expenditure last month included JE455 5s. for the sea wall. The re- sult of last month's working is a deficit of jB36, as against a surplus of £ 978 4s. lid. in the correspon- ding month of last year. The statement of trade for last month is as follows:—Vessels, 308; ton- nage, 69,862; shipping rates received, £ 1,863 8s. 4d. In January, 1881, it was:—Vessels, 354; tonnage, 64.74i; shipping rates received, m,741 19s. lid.

UNPARALLELED PARALLELS. QUE1,4,8 Speech- TELSGRAM. Feb. 7. Bombay, Feb. 9. I have pleasure Inhabitants of Herat in informing you that are in open rebellion. the restoration of peace Troops have been or- beyond the North-Wes- dered to proceed to tern Frontier, together Herat from Cabul. with continued internal tranquillity, &c." Durban, Feb. 9. "The Convention with Fighting between the the Transvaal has been Boers and Chief Mont- ratified, and 1 have n& sima. A Boer force, with twson to modify my three guns, crossed the anticipations of its ad- Convention boundary vantageous working." and attacked Montsima on January 10. Fight- ing was still proceeding January 31.

The Royal Commission on Technical Education met on Wednesday to consider their preliminary

I report, which will be presented to Parliament forthwith

MONDAY. There was less than the usual amount of movement in the House of Commons this afternoon; only 40 members, all told, assembled to join the Chaplain at prayers. These hon. gentlemen took a sly opportunity during their devotional exercises to ticket their seats with their hats. They immediately afterwards quitted the Chamber, leaving Sir Robert Carden, Mr. Northcote, Mr. Henry Richard, and the ever-vigilant Mr. Warton to watch over the Constitution. Little by little the House filled up as half- past four approached, and with it thetime for the entrance of the Cabinet and of all the talents and the leaders of her Majesty's Opposi- tion. Sir George Bowyer, catching sight of Mr. Bradlaugh, crossed over and shook hands ostentatiously with the hon. member, while Mr. Labouchere and Mr. Sexton concerted schemes for the weal of the Empire in the vacant seat of Lord Randolph Churchill, and afterwards the two got hold of Lord Richard Grosvenor, to whom they commnnicated their pregnant views. Nevertheless, for some time during questions the number of members did not exceed seventy, and this usually breezy period of the legislative afternoon passed in a sultry calm. A notable feature of the afternoon was Irk Cowen sitting amongst the Parnellites. The hon. member for Tyneside looked anxiously at Mr. Gladstone, upon whom be directed his melancholy gaze. The Premier, however, seemed to be in a highly spring-like humour, laughing merrily as he sat sandwiched between the mild witticisms of Mr. Childers and the elephantine jokes of Secretary Sir William J-Iaroourt. The first adverse laugh at the Ministers was occasioned by the Home Secre- tary, who hedged his reply to Mr. Redmond's question as to whether the Government possessed power to seize newspapers in Eng- land, by saying that the interrogatory involved certain legal consultations. Loud was the laugh of Mr. Redmond, and taunting of sound the hear, hears" of Mr. Redmond s spotted colleagues. After this we had a pretty duel between Mr. Courtney and Mr. Gorst, who had a string of pertinent questions relating to the attack of the Boers upon a chief who had shown hi3 fidelity to the J^itish. Mr. Courtney, however, amid loud Ministerial laughter, stated that this chief was not attacked by the Boers, but when the Under Secretary met a collateral question on the same subject by an appeal for time, it was now the turn of the Opposition to laugh. This warmed up the spirit of an- tagonism. The House was in a highly emotional humour to receive Earl Percy's question relating to Mr. Farrer's Cobden Club treatise, and the self-confessed assistance and encouragement which the writer had received from the President of the Board of Tradfe, of which he was afterwards an official. The point of Earl Percy's question was whether it formed part of the duty of Cabinet Ministers to aid permanent officials in Writing pamphlets in support of Government policies. Mr. Gladstone's reply failed to satisfy the noble earl, who, therefore, gave notice of his inten- tion to call attention to the matter on another day. Without further incident, the ad- journed debate on the Queen's Speech was resumed by Mr. Plunket.

TUESDAY. During the first hour this afternoon the sitting of the House of Commons dragged wearily. Not more than a dozen members survived prayers, and these consisted mainly of gentlemen who had petitions to present to the Chamber. A faint buzz, like the hum- ming of bumble bees, represented the inarti- culate conversation of a group of bores upon a back bench, under one of the balconies. Otherwise, the leaden silence was unbroken, save by the voice of the Speaker repeating, with melodious monotony, the formula prescribed for the first reading of a batch of private Bills. There was a singular and sinister absence of the Third Party, the only etPigry of that irritating faction being Mr. Sexton's hat guarding the seat from which the hon. member intended to continue the adjourned debate on the Address. As a set-off against this interval of dulneas, an unwontedly early gathering of Ministers and ex-Ministers has to be recorded. The Home Secretary was evidently of a playful mood, for on taking his seat he, with liar- courtian grace, placed a finger under the arm of the reflective Secretary for War, and made that sensitive Minister jump like a" young thing." Thus did we go to business. Mr. Warton caused a roar of laughter by giving notice of his intention to bring in Bill No. 2 in order to amend the Welsh Sunday Closing Act, No. 1 having been rejected this morning. This laugh was followed by sympathetic Opposition cheering on Mr. Cowen throwing down the gage of battle against the Central Asian policy of the Government. We heard to-day for the first time this session the sweet voice of Mr. Hopwood, who took up his old of inquisition of Justice: justice. The questions upon the paper were again numerous, the majority standing in the names of Irish members. Mr. Red- mond proved persistent and irrepres- sible as usual, and came down lite- rally bristling with Hibernian grievances, and instances of gross Saxon tyranny. The more important questions of the after- noon related to the Russian advance in Central Asia, the incidence of the Income- tax, the sovereignty of the Sultan in Egypt, and the Channel Tunnel. To Sir Henry Drummond NVolff must be given the credit of drawing the first full and connected description of Mr. Errington's mission to and residence in Rome. This I journey, said Mr. Gladstone, was undertaken by Mr. Errington of his own motion, and his volunteered services were only accepted by the Government in the belief that the information he gleaned from the Vatican might be of use to the Roman Catholic portion of her Majesty's subjects. After this Sir II. D. Wolff, in a highly sarcastic vein, asked the Prime Minister if any opportunity was to be given to members other than those from Ireland to address the House in the debate on the Queen's Speech. This brought up Mr. Gorst, anxious about the Transvaal, and Sir W. Barttelot, concerned for the suffering agriculturists. In feeling language Mr. Gladstone endeavoured to dis- suade Baron Ilenry de Worms from bringing forward his motion relative to the Russian Jews. After some desultory conversation the adjourned debate on the Address was resumed by Mr. Sexton. Mr. Sexton at least succeeded in inspiring his hearers with a sense of his earnestness and sincerity. He, of course, had a few choice epithets to direct against Mr. Forster and the officials of Dublin Castle, and it was quite in keeping with his well-known antipathies in this direction when he described the Chief Secretary as a clumsy, common-place Crom- well, a man who was only prevented from lack of genius from doing as Cromwell did. Such phrases, however, were treated by the House very much as pleasantries, and excited little else than a quiet laugh. On the conclusion of Mr. Sexton's speech many eyes were directed to the place where Mr. Herbert Gladstone usually sits, for it was expected that he would continue the debate. He was not, however, in the House, and to the surprise of many no other member offered to continue the discussion, and the Speaker rose to put the question. Not more than seven or eight Conservatives sat above the gangway, and the Parnellites were, in fact, the only body who were present in force. They at once raised a derisive laugh, and the indisposition of the House to continue the discussion seemed to them to b^iore a sign of strength than of weakness of their cause. For a moment the whips were to be seen in consultation .with their leaders, Mr. Winn in particular engaging in close conversation with Sir Stafford Northcote, with the result that both right hon. gentlemen quietly walked out of the House, leaving the Government to make up their majority against Mr. McCarthy" *in. c°lleagues as best they could. The Government, however, took the matter complacently. As they sat they were as three to one to the Irish Opposition, and evidently they were glad to see the debate brought to a close. Accordingly the division was taken, when the amendment was rejected by 08 against 30. A division was then challenged by the Parnellites on the main question of the adoption of the Address, which, of course, resulted in a similarly large majority against them. The Address was then agreed to, and we proceeded to a dull discussion raised by Sir John Hay upon a motion relating to the murder of Captain Brownrigg.

WEDNESDAY. Mr. Bradlaugh's letter to the chief Minis- terial journal this morning, declaring active war against the table, had the effect of draw- ing a few sensation-loving members down to the House of Commons at noon in view of a possible raid up the floor of the chamber by the hon. member for Northampton. But although Mr. Bradlaugh sat twiddling his thumbs under the Peers' Gallery, nothing of the kind anticipated occurred. Without delay the atport on the Addrm was brought up, and the first shot was fired by Sir Ilenry Drummond Wolff. It was quite a relief to find ourselves traversing other countries, and probing other grievances besides those of Ireland, the wickedness of the Chief Secretary, and the corruption of Dublin Castle. Sir Henry D. AV, oiff had come down charged to the muzzle with explosive balls, and these he discharged from a species of Gatling gun, hitting at once the general concert of Europe, the administration of Cyprus, and Mr. Errington. Sir Henry was in a highly epigrammatic andcaustic humour, and wanted to know, amongst other things, how much longer Cyprus was to remain under the despotism of the High Commissioner, and how much longer Mr. Errington, whom he happily, if wickedly, nicknamed an animated telephone of Cardinal Jacobini, was going to neglect the interests of his constituents, while the public were paying his expenses in Rome. The pointedness with which Sir Charles Dilke met the last interrogatory with a prompt denial showed how the sparkling baronet, the member for Portsmouth, had un- consciously dropped into the embraces of the python. The loud cheers of the Ministerial Benches betokened the joy of that party as they beheld Sir Drummond disappear piece- meal. Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett, bursting with fervour, and literally extruding with clauses of the Treaty of Berlin, dashed with a well-directed broadside against the Government for having humiliated Greece. By a facile twist of logic he throttled the Government upon their Eastern policy, declaring, amid Opposition cheers, that they had lost their influence in Egypt, and had broken up the concert of Europe, while Passia had marched rMven hundred miles nearer India. The hon. member for Eye concluded by predicting that the struggle with Russia for the possession of India wfts at hand. Again Sir Charles Dilke, now warmed up and re- freshed from his lunch off Sir Drummond Wolff, rose to reply. He evoked loud Minis- terial cheers and laughter by describing the member for Eye, with withering sarcasm, as the mouthpiece of unfounded rumours, whose every fact was a fiction. The Under- Secretary delivered a wide, sweeping defence of the foreign policy of the Government, and in this way the sitting was brought down to nearly four o'clock. Another hour was devoted to a dis- cussion on the London water supply. and the rapacity of the water companies. The sitting, however, could not be permitted to wind UD without a further reference to the threshed out wrongs of Ireland. This, how- ever, was remarkable ohielly for an inter- change of civilities between the Attorney- General for Ireland and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, who, the former said, had now Boy- cotted" the Lord-Lieutenant. The debate was talked out, to be resumed to-morrow. Several Rills were brought in, one of which is an old friend who is becoming blue moulded from being pigeon-holed from session to session, viz., Mr. Anderson's measure to amend the Banking Laws of Scotland.

OUR LONDON LETTER. (FROM OUR OWN' CORRESPONDENT.). It has taken the public several days to find out the real significance of Mr. Glad- stone's declaration on Home Rule. From the Premier's point of view the subject has come within the region of practical politics," and all that now remains is for the Irish party to lick their proposals into shape. They will then have them considered by the Govern- ment. Mr. Gladstone's ambiguity is often useful to him when he wants to escape from one or another of the dilemmas in which he is constantly involving himself, but, for a wonder, his Home Rule confessions can be understood with comparative ease, and unless he eats his words he cannot possibly escape from his position. j, The Premier's'conversion, though startling in its suddenness, is really not so very asto- nishing after all. A statesman who began life as a Tory, and gradually drifted through the intermediate stages of high-and-drv Whig- gery, mild Liberalism, Liberalism more pro- nounced, and advanced Liberalism, to Radi- calism of the most uncompromising type, must fulfil his destiny. His career for many years past has been associated with schemes of destruction; and from sweeping away the rights of sections of the people to cutting the ties that bind the nation together is but a question of degree. Ireland goes first, and then the work of setting the Colonies and India adrift will have to be considered. Mr. Gladstone is an old man—too old, per- haps, for much real mischief to be accom- plished in his time—but the evil men do lives after them, and his precept and example will inspire the new generation of Radicals, of which Mr. Chamberlain is typical, to further exertions in the same direction. The neces- sity for strict loyalty and firm union among the Tories was never greater than it is now. Mr. Collings, the Birmingham representa- tive of Ipswich, probably bad some object in view when he asked Mr. Forster his question about Major Bond's appointment to a resident magistracy in Ireland, but it is difficult to see what it was. So far as Birmingham is con- cerned, I suppose Mr. Collings and the rest of them have a right to say who shall be their chief of police, but their presumption borders on the impertinent when they seek to set up as dictators outside the boundary of their own borough. Because there is a party in Caucustown which does not regard Major Bond and his actions favourably, it hardly follows that he should be prevented from earning his bread and butter elsewhere. I am entitled to discuss Mr. Jesse Collings's question in the House of Commons about Major Bond, but considerations of fair play make it necessary that I should say nothing about the subsequent letter which the member for Ipswich has written to the Times. That letter is to form the subject of an action for libel in which the gallant Major lays his damages at Anything that Mr. Collings may say on the floor of the House about Major Bond or anyone else is covered by U privilge," but what he says out of doors or puts into writing must stand or fall by the same rules of law which govern the expressed thoughts of people who have not the letters M.P." after their names. Mr. Bradlaugh continues to flit mournfully beyond the technical limits of the Bar, like the Peri at the gates of Paradise, or, as someone more proverbially phrased it, a crisis in trousers. The hon. gentleman adopts all the tricks of regularly ordained members, sits with his hat on, conning his notice paper, hear, hearing" with his party, and laughing when the House laughs, and using the library and dining with the elect. If there is one thing the Liberal party dreads just now it is an appeal to the country. As Sir W. Harcourt said lately, Dissolve why should we dissolve? How could we hope to get a better House of Commons than tHe present one ?" Depend upon it, then, means will be found between now and Thurs- day, unless Mr. Gladstone is quite impracti- cable, to accommodate the differences of opinion among Liberal members regarding the new Rules of Procedure, and to avoid that last resource of a general election, which Liberals look upon as the greatest calamity that could befall them. It is confidently asserted that the Ministry ■ will not give way an inch; but in such a game of brag as they are playing they must make a show of being very determined in order to alarm their wavering followers and bring them back to their allegiance. Mr. Gladstone's colleagues will not, if they can help it, allow him in a freak of temper to throw away four more years of office by a premature dissolution of Parliament, or by an arrogant attempt, after the fashion of M. Gambetta, to force upon the majority of the House a measure to which they have a decided' repugnance. I am inclined, there- fore, to believe that the crisis will, after all, end in a compromise. » The danger that threatens the Savage Club, now that the Prince of Wales has dis- tinguished it with his special favour, is that it may cease to be jovial and unconventional, and become as respectable and dull as any other London club. The Priftce of Wales himself is, as he said in his speech at the club dinner, a thoroughly "good fellow," who likes to be amused, and can enjoy pleasant company even in a tavern parlour with sanded floor; but wherever he goes a host of social toadies rush after him, and the Savages, now that his Royal Highness has become one of their honorary mem- bers, will be deluged with a flood of applications for membership from people who, if admitted, would quickly take away the special character the club enjoys for good fellowship. The temptation to enlarge their limits by tftking in members who do not belong to their own set has been fatal to several clubs originally formed by artists, actors, and men of letters. At the Garrick, for instance, men for whom the club was really designed have been crowded out by a swarm of candidates whose connection with literature or art is of the remotest character, and the flourishing Arts Club in Hanover- square, like the Savage Club itself, was founded to supply a place of refuge for artists and literary men whose proper home would have been at the Garrick. Taking the announcement in this week's fvorld to be correct, that the Prince of Wales has invited our leading actors to dinner at Marlborough House next Sunday, I am afraid to think how much hearf-burning and jealousy the event will give rise to. Pro- fessionals" are notoriously small-minded in everything that relates to the recognition of their own merits, and an extra tinge of bitter- ness is imparted when the conflicting claims of a rival are brought into the question. As the number of guests is under thirty, the disappointments will be numerous. The Times shows it was justified in saying that 0 K." (Madame Novikoff) will probably not return to this country. Her mission at least, which was to keep Mr. Gladstone straight on the Eastern Question by priming 'him with arguments in favour of Russia, has been fulfilled, and now, possibly, her services are wanted to maintain the Slavonian cause in the provinces occupied by Austria. I hear it rumoured that Mr. J. B. Firth will be obliged, owing to the delicate state of his health, to retire from the representation of Chelsea. I doubt if the Conservatives are prepared for a contest in that borough. The enormous cost of elections in the Metro- politan boroughs keeps candidates from coming forward. I hear that Lord Algernon Percy's expenses, though his return for Westminster was unopposed, will amount to £ 2,000. The world has heard how disappointed Mr. Oscar Wilde was with the Atlantic, and how, in a letter to the St. James's Gazette, the illimitable ocean expressed its indescribable disgust with the great poet of aestheticism. Now comes the news that Mr. Wilde was at first disappointed with the Niagara. He com- plained of its want of grandeur and variety of line, but he admitted that the colours of the balls were beautiful. Underneath the Falls he realised their majestic splendour, and the strength of the physical forces at work. The sight was far beyond what he had ever seen in Europe. In the hotel album he wrote, The roar of the waters is like the roar when the mighty wave of Democracy beats upon the shores where kings lie couched at ease." '» The Sultan has very kindly accepted the explanation of the English and brench Governments as to what they really meant by their Joint Note on the Egyptian Question. The telegram from Constantinople which contains the above gratifying intelligence adds that the Porte further congratulates upon the fact of Germany, Russia, Austria, and Italy having: recognised the principle of the Sultan's sovereignty over Egypt. England and France being in disgrace, and having been politely snubbed in accordance with the well- recognised rules of diplomacy, it will not do for them to take any notice of the half-ex- posed threat which lurks in the latter part of the Ottoman Circular. One of the advantages of Liberal rule cer- tainly is that if we have to eat dirt, we do our best to conceal even from ourselves its emphatically miry properties. Labelled 11; sweetmeats it is considered by some people not to taste so disagreeably, but that, unfor. tunately, happens to be a matter of opinion. This is not the first time I have referred to the question, but my excuse for harking back to it is furnished by the positive misery which the smoke of steam locomotives causes to every unfortunate traveller on the two existing underground lines. From railways to Mr. Fawcett's Parcels Post scheme is a short step. Whatever the faults of the present Government—and, Heaven knows, they are neither few nor trivial-the present Postmaster-General will always be remembered as an active and successful worker in the! field of departmental reform. He has loyally done his best to carry out the projects which found favour with his predecessor, Lord John Manners, but which the accession of the Liberal party left uncompleted. That bug- bpar of the enterprising official, the Treasury," has yet to be softened, but, ap- parently, Mr. Fawcett is hopeful of his ability to propitiate the Cerberus of Downinp-- street. The struggle with the railway com- panies and their everlasting vested inte- rests" is not over either; but here, again, the Postmaster-General is filled with a spirit of cheerful anticipation. The future of the post-office, at its present rate of progress, is somewhat alarming. By and bye the department will feel its way from parcels of six pounds weight to heavy trunks, and a further development still may see it in a position to carefully remove furni- ture, plate, glass, and pictures by road or rail without packing and to take all risks. The haulage of coal and the transportation of families to and from the seaside may follow, and the genera, employment of the telephone, laid on from house to house like gas and water, or, to begin with, a system of penny telegrams will add still further to the popu- larity of the post-office.

THE PROPOSED COLLEGE FOR SOUTH WALES. DONATION OF £ 1,000 BY LORD WINDSOR. The following letter has been received by the Town-clerk of Cardiff:- « Windsor Estate Office, St. Fagan's, Cardiff, 15th February, 1882. « My dear Sir,—lie Proposed University College for South Wales.—I am requested by Lord Windsor to inform you that he will be glad to introduce the deputation on the above matter to Earl Spencer, and I may add that his lordship proposes subscribing £ 1,000 (one thousand pounds) to the fund now being raised, provided Cardiff is selected for the site of the college.-I aui, my dear Sir, yours faithfully, "R. FOKREST. J, L. Wheatley, Esq., Town-clerk, Cardiff."

IMAJOR BOND'S NEW APPOINT- MENT. ACTION FOR LIBEL AGAINST- MR. JESSE COLLINGS, M.P. Our Radical contemporary, the Pall hlall Gazette, of February 11, remarks: Almost im- mediately after Major Bond had resigned his post at Birmingham to escape formal dismissal Mr. Forster made him a resident magistrate. He did this, as is perfectly well known, without consult- ing any of the authorities in Birmingham, either the magistrates, or the watch committee, or any one else. If Mr. Forster had taken the ordinary trouble which we assume that he would take in choosing a butler or a coachman, he would have found that his new resident magistrate had been censured (perhaps not for the fir time either) for exactly that kind of indiscretion which would most unfit a man to be a resident magistrate. He had gone to Warwick Assizes, had there 4 given elaborate detailed evidence of what took place upon an occasion at which he was not even present, such evidence being wholly erro- neous.' That is the account of the Birmincrham magistrates themselves. Yet an official with t hese notions of evidence is Sent to act as judge, jury, and executioner in a country where the right administration of justice depends more than any- where else on the magistrate's wit in knowing good evidence from bad. Who can, wonder that the Irish do not respect the law when its ad:ni. i nistrators are chosen with such levity as this r" A telegram from the "Central News" Birming- ham correspondent, dated Tuesday, says:- Major Bond has commenced an action for libel against Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., upon his letter to the Times, and claims damages £ 5,000. A question was asked at the Birmingham Watch Committee meeting on Tuesday, whether the chairman or the mayor had requested Mr. Collings to put his recent question in Parliament. The Chairman replied in the negative, and the Mayor (Alderman Avery) stated that, upon seeing Mr. Collings's notice of the question in the newspapers, he addressed a telegram to him, requesting that no each question should be proceeded with,

GENERAL. The death is announced of Francis Buddie, of Peterborough, aged 84. His name is associate4 with the revival of Gothic architecture. Dr. Adler has received from the Vice-Chancelloj; of Oxford University a protest against the perse- cution of the Jews, signed by eighteen head of colleges and 25 professors. On Wednesday Mr. J. Addenbrook, a well-known South Staffordshire coal and ironmaster, was run over on the Great Western line at Wednesbury by an express train, and killed instantaneously, hi4 body being terribly mangled. He leaves a widow and fifteen children. The intervention of the Marquess of Ripoa (Governor-General of India) in the recent contest in the North Riding of Yorkshire by subscribing £ 1,000 towards the expenses of the Liberal candi- date is to be brought under the notice of the Housg of Commons by an influential member. The Daily Telegraph says :-It is remarked as 3 sign of the extent to which the Irish military occupation has depleted the available forces in England that, for almost the first time in the memory of soldiers, the Royal Artillery are doing sentry go at Portsmouth, and that of the twe battalions of infantry stationed there 600 men are actually being drilled as recruits,

FOREIGN"- The Times Vienna correspondent says:-Tht lorrtadt Zeitung has been confiscated for reprint-, ing the manifesto of the insurgents. The two sons of Sir Salar Jung, G.C.S.I., ot Hyderabad, will arrive in England next April, for the purpose of making a, six months' tour iii Europe. A « Router's telegram from Berlin savs:-The intrigues between General Ignatieff and M. Giers as to who shall bear the disgrace of the discovery of the recent peculations continue, and the result is quite uncertain. A Renter s telegram from St. Petersburg sayu -An Imperial ukase is published to-day abolishing the; Committee of the Caucasus, and directing tha provisional transfer of the archives of the Chan- cellery to the Committee of Ministers. Professor leirn, of Zurich, the earthslip expert, has visited Fettan, the village in the Grisons which is being swallowed up by the ancient moraine on which it is built. He ascribes the phenomenon to the movement, of underground waters, and com siders that the peril may be averted by certain engmeering" operations, which will probably be executed under his superintendence. A telegram from New York says:-Sir Henry Parkes, the New South Wales Premier addressed a special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce ou Wednesday on the commercial rela- tions of America and Australia. After picturing in glowing colours the resources of Australia, he said he did not. consider that one in a, thousand in Austi aLa desired separation from the motbel country, and he predicted that in a few years the colonies would constitute in themselves a vast empire and a great Power.

TAUNTON ELECTION. CONSERVATIVE VICTORY. The polling for Taunton to fill the vacancy in the representation of that borough caused by the death of Sir William Palliser (C.) took place on Thursday. The candidates were Mr. Samuel W Ailsopp, who represented East Staffordshire in the Conservative interest in the last Parliament, and Lord Kilcoursie, eldest son of the Earl of Cavan. The poll was officially declared as follows:— S. C. Ailsopp (C.) 1,144 ICilcoursie (L) 917 -1 Majority for Conservative 227 tile representation remains unchanged. Mr. Ailsopp is a son of Mr. Henry Ailsopp, of llmton-on-Trent and Hindlip Hall, Worcester. He was born at Burton-on-Trent in 1842, and was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cam- bridge, where he was junior optime in 1865. Mr. Allsopp is a magistrate for Derbyshire and Stafford- shire, and a lieutenant of the Derbyshire Yeomanry Cavalry.

LOSS OF A CARDIFF STEAMER. FOUR OF THE CREW DROWNED. Captain Rowe, of Mount Stuart-square, Cardiff received a brief telegram on Thursday morning' that One of his steamers, the Rosebud, had beea run into and sunk off the Lougsliips by the screw steamer Lady Olive, of and for Dublin, and that Captain Splatt and crew had been landed there I lie Rosebud was on her passage with a cargo of coal from Newport for Lisbon, which port ahe left on Monday last. She was 467 net register, and was built in 1878 by theJMessrs. Schlesinger, Davis, and Co., at Wallsend-on-Tyne. A Lloyd's telegram, dated Thursday, s»ys:— The Rosebud, steamer, of Cardiff, from Newport. and the Lady Olive, steamer, from Newport for Dublin, were in collision off the Lonpships. Tha Rosebud foundered, and four of the crew were drowned.

EGYPT AND THE SLAVE TRADE. It is reported in Cairo that the Egyptian Ministry intend to take steps to effect the aboli- tion of the slave trade, and it is thought that this will make a favourable impression on public opinion in England.

AMERICANS IN BRITISH PRISONS. SCENE IN THE AMERICAN CONGRESS. The New York correspondent of the Daily l\rem says-Mr. Robinson succeeded in throwing Con- gress into an uproar on Wednesdav when his resolutions of inquiry about Americans in British prisons were reported adversely from the Com- i.iittee of Foreign Relations. One resolution, asking the Attorney-General's opinion on the legality of the imprisonment of naturalised Ameri- cans, was laid on the table, in accordance with the committee s recommendation. The other, re- questing the President, to ascertain from Great iii-itain the facts relating to the imprisonment of Mr.H. D. O'Connor, was the subject of an animated debate, chiefly remarkable for bitter personalities, and was finally returned to the committee, with instructions to report back, including other names than that of Mr. O'Connor, and requesting the President to demand their speedy trial or their prompt release from Uritish gaols. The debate and resolutions are of no account bevond showing the anxiety of certain members to propitiate the Irish voters. All the newspapers treat the matter with ridicule.

A HUSBAND'S TITLE TO HIS WIFE'S MARRIAGE GIFTS. In the Court of Queen's Bench, on Wednesday, the case of Williams v. Mercier came on for trial. The case took the form of an interpleader issue brought to try the right to certain jewellerv of the value of £ 1,170, which had been seized bý the sheriff under an execution issued bv the dant against, the wife of the plaintiff. It, anoeared inrtahtM°rt°!fher? Mrs. Williams was h? defe?dant goods supplied, and i fwS the defendant obtained rni u for a slJm of about £ 1,000. j 1. 111 Question was seized to satisfy ia judgment. It, was now shown on the part of judgment against hcr for a sum of about £ 1,000. The ewenry in question was seized to satisfy ia judgment. It, was now shown on the part of m Ait-vr t the jewellery had been given to -Mrs. Williams bv hrer friends at the time of her marriage, as wedding presents. Lord Chief Justice marriage, as wedding presents. Lord Chief Justice Oolmdge ruled that in these circumstances the property had passed to the husband, and the de- fendant had no right to seize it in satisfaction of a judgment obtained against the separate estate of the wife. A verdict was accordingly entered foi. the plaintiff.

DARING LEAP FROM A TRAIN. As Sergeant Best, of Hartlepool, was conveying a prisoner =- named Sarah Ashton, alias Wear, from Northallerton Gaol to Hartlepool on Wednesday afternoon she suddenly opened the carriage door near Yarm Station and sprang out on to the six- foot-way. She was picked up and conveyed to Hartlepool Hospital, suffering from severe bruises and a deep cut upon the head; but her iniuriea are not likely to prove serious.

LOCAL PATENTS. This list of patents is speciallv compiled for the Western Mail by Messrs. Des Vceux and Colton, patent solicitors and engineers, 32, Southampton- buildings, London, W.C., and 120, Powell's-place, 1 lite Docks, Cardiff, of whom all information, [ including pamphlets of instructions, may ba obtained. TR—U APPUCATTOIFS. ui~ ta fi of Cardiff Improvements In brake blocks or shoe. for railway vehicles." Antoine ,) Brossard, of swansea Improvements in supp y ana cut-off apparatus for marine and othet steam engines." J™™ ,°.F SIX MONTHS' PROVISIONAL PROTECTIOX. Howeli Bevan, of Neath Improvement# i» bonding roll roofing tiles." Stephen Collier, jun., of Bridgend: Improvement! thertfor "'ng Hniestone and roasting ore* in kiln' PATENT SEALED. John Bichardeon Francis, of Swansea i -1 An improves process of treating mineral pyrites and sulphurets in tb: reparation therefrom of sulphuric acid, metals, ani 7 metallic compounds." A communication 6y J £ enr> » Wttrtz, of Nerw York, U.S.A.